Water and time, precious resources

Valuing time by saving water

Here on the Water Security System blog, we’ve been thinking a lot about the water infrastructure that support our daily access to quality drinking water here in Florida and how each person has a part to play in protecting and conserving the precious resource. Our water travels quite a distance, going through various steps before it makes its brief appearance in our lives via our taps, each one requiring coordination and expertise from many people from different sectors. It’s a complex process, of which — when things are going well — we are blissfully unaware when we wake up and turn on the tap to wash our faces, brush our teeth, and take that first refreshing sip of water. This orchestra of processes happening behind the scenes provides us with a valuable gift. Water, of course, is a vital gift, but that’s not the one we are referring to today: we are talking about the gift of time.

The main steps of the urban water cycle, of which we have talked about to varying degrees over the last few weeks, include sourcing, water treatment, storage, distribution, collection, wastewater treatment, and discharge or reuse. The whole system is underpinned by large-scale infrastructure and over 200, 000 of people across the USA working to ensure its safety and reliability. But as users, of these steps, there are only two that we have direct contact with — distribution and collection — through our taps and drains. So much work and effort for such a brief appearance, so easily forgotten and taken for granted during the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.

But it hasn’t always been that way, and in fact it is not that way for everyone, even though safe, reliable, and universal access to water was recognized as a human right in 2010. While the overwhelming majority of households in the country have access to piped water, a 2020 study estimated that across the USA, 1.1 million individuals lacked piped water connection, with 73% of those households being located in cities. When we look at the global level, in 2020, 74% of the world population had access to safely managed water (referring to a water source available on premises, available when needed and free of contamination). For the remaining 26%, water access is more precarious, requiring users to dedicate time to collect the water from a reliable source, or in the more dire cases, water is collected from sources that are unprotected and potentially unsafe, in turn requiring additional time dedicated to filtering and boiling water on top of collection times.

Practically, this means that around the world an estimated 200 million hours per day are dedicated to collecting water, and this task falls primarily on the head of women and girls. In some cases, as much as 8 hours a day is dedicated to collecting water, wasting previous time and preventing young girls from attending school, and women from spending timing caring for their children or supporting their families. In these cases, the gift of time is clearly felt, and the value of clean, piped water access is clear.

In Florida, where access to water is mostly guaranteed to the population, the true value of the water service we are afforded is easy to forget in the daily grind of our lives due the ease with which we access it. Yes, we are paying for this service, and in cases where leaks and water damage show their ugly head, we are paying more than we ought to. But it’s easy to forget that the service we are paying for is not simply water, but also time.

Time, like water, is a valuable and finite resource, which we waste at our own cost, literally and figuratively, and just like water, we can easily take it for granted as we rush through the 24 hours of the day, trying to get everything done. At Water Security System we offer solutions to help you conserve both, saving you money and preserving your peace of mind.

Our state-of-the-art technologies provide users with insight into what is happening in our pipes in real-time through moisture and flow sensors that detect issues as soon as they arise. By installing these sensors in critical areas along the water pipes and by water-intensive appliances, the Water Security System is strategically located to identify problems within moments. By installing our active system, you can trigger your water to turn off immediately to prevent water loss and property damage. Through the Homeowners app our clients have direct information about their water usage and any potential problem in seconds — in the time it takes to walk over to your sink and turn the tap.

All these solutions allow users to save water, time, and money, by stopping the issue in its tracks, and notifying you immediately of the issue. In this way, it provides you with the power to solve the problem before it has a chance to grow undetected, requiring longer and more costly repairs, and having secretly flushed money down the drain through water waste.

Get in touch today to find out how you can start saving and begin to truly value the precious resources of time and water through the simple installation of Water Security System technologies in your home.

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